Fund Finance

Overview

Mayer Brown is a leader and an innovator in the subscription credit facility and broader fund finance market. We have worked on some of the world’s largest and most complex private equity fund financings. Mayer Brown counsels both lenders and borrowers on private and public fund financings and loan transactions. Our global network of fund finance lawyers works in conjunction with lawyers from the firm’s other top-tier practices within our Private Equity, Funds & Investment Management team, including Corporate & Securities, Banking & Finance, Tax, ERISA, FSRE and Government practices. This seamless network of experienced practitioners provides our Fund Finance team the keys to understanding any fund vehicle and distilling the most sophisticated fund documents and structures to a level where the parties can properly evaluate the creditworthiness of the transaction.

Most of the transactions we advise on carry international components—whether that be foreign limited partners or funds, multi-currency advances or foreign asset investment. Our Fund Finance team includes lawyers in our offices across the Americas, Asia and Europe. This global reach allows us to efficiently manage cross-border transactions. We also have an experienced network of offshore tax-haven jurisdiction firms (Caymans, BVI, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Guernsey, Canada, etc.) with which we regularly consult.

The Fund Finance team has represented the lead agent and lenders in more than 400 subscription credit facilities since 2008. We have relationships with every major US lender along with the majority of active lenders in the European and Asian markets. We have led transactions funded by balance sheet lenders and commercial paper conduits as well as large syndicated facilities to accommodate various types of insurance companies. We are experienced documenting the full suite of fund and portfolio-level financings including subscription-backed credit facilities, NAV facilities, private placements, hybrid facilities, open-end fund facilities, management fee credit lines and an assortment of leveraged asset level transactions.

Mayer Brown also has one of the premier private equity fund sponsor-borrower side practices. Our lawyers have represented a broad range of national and international general partners and sponsors in connection with the formation of more than 230 debt, infrastructure, private equity, real estate and secondary funds over the last five years. In fact, we have represented more than 50 fund sponsors in connection with subscription credit facilities and other fund financings during that five-year period. Fund clients consistently remark upon the team’s deep knowledge and understanding of lender-side market participants along with the specific financing products those participants can provide.